On stuffing snakes

At the time of a spending squeeze all round, with major welfare cuts affecting the poorest in society this kind of reckless spending is indeed reprehensible.

But not a single UK media outlet has picked up on the story of far more UK tax payers' money being spent by the Foreign Office (through the Government's Overseas Aid budget) on stuffing a far more dangerous set of snakes. As Douglas Murray reports in the Washington Post Britain is directly funding the payment of 'salaries' to Palestinians convicted of terrorism by courts in Israel. Of the £86 million per year which the UK inexplicably donates to the Palestinian Authority (and which is not immediately channelled into the foreign bank accounts of PA and even Hamas leaders) much goes directly to pay these convicted terrorists. Their monthly 'salary' is as high as £2000 - about 10 times what an average worker in the private sector of the Palestinian Authority territories earns and 20 times that of such a worker in Hamas controlled Gaza.

But of course - as David Cameron keeps saying - to 'stop people around the world dying' the annual UK overseas aid budget of £9 billion must not only be protected (unlike any other government department budget) but is the only one guaranteed to grow year on year. At least it will ensure that Palestinian terrorists will be very well equipped to kill Jews when they get out of jail.